The coolness factor of Linux

Can your Windows Vista PC do all this? How many bucks do you have to shell out to get something close to this on Windows? Can it do these wonderful things out of the box?

The answer's no. I took the time to produce a small showcase of what modern Linux is capable of. This is, honestly, my typical (non-work) computing session, in 90 seconds.

The full story, including full instructions on how to make a video like this, is at http://rudd-o.com/en/linux-and-free-software/the-coolness-factor-of-linux

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• linux
• aiglx
• xgl
• fedora
• beryl
• kdissert
• akregator
• amarok
• kde
• konqueror
• ktorrent
• kopete
• cool

[SneakyWhoami]

I know it's been said before but, 8 or 9 frames per second? I can not live with that. That's the kind of performance I get out the computer that I got in *drumroll* 2002, which runs on Linux, if I set the resolution up to 1440x900.

Or, the performance I'm getting out of a brand new computer running Windows Vista.

Not everyone shares my complaints here but there are two upgrade paths from XP: Linux, and Mac OS X. And I never thought I'd endorse anything made by apple, so that's saying something.

[RuddODragonFear]

Oh I agree, the performance is shit. But that was an OLD computer. M modern computer does 60FPS SOLID, with vertical sync retrace so no tears or flicker, even when decoding x264 Full HD video. At 1920x1200. On a 24" monitor.

Life is good.

[Steven707]

Woah 8 fps.

I'm getting over 1000 fps with my 7600GT. Slackware 12.1, KDE 4.1, Compiz-Fusion 0.7.8.

[RuddODragonFear]

Well then prepare to be envious because my Gateway 24 inch monitor 1920 x 1200 arrived a few weeks ago, together with my BRAND NEW 8800 GT, DVI output, and I am going to get a computer to fit that video card this THURSDAY :-)

[nikita2974]

great job rudd!

[RuddODragonFear]

much appreciated, nikita

[elredplague]

Don't spew your shit all other the Internet. You have no facts backing up what you are saying, Linux is the fastest growing kernel on earth. It supports the largest variety of hardware and architectures. Its WAAAAAAY ahead of Microsoft and Apple. Oh and its free.

[4izm0v]

It is GNU/Linux!

[Schneidend]

Opening a bunch of windows and randomly scrolling around like an epileptic? Any computer, and retard, can do that.

[experimental0000]

@RuddODragonFear agreed. he has to remember that hardware plays a big factor in how stuff runs it's not software only. I guess not everyone stops to take that into consideration before bashing any particular OS based on someone's vid like this one.

[Viriatus]

@Steven707

OMG OMG now you can spin that cube faster and drool at Firefox and GIMP!!! So much fun you'll have!

[Viriatus]

coolness? Where? That's looks like shit. :D

[aquaphobicFish]

even newer computers lose alot of speed when running compiz .....

[orangefan9]

@aquaphobicFish compiz is fun, and doesn't slow down your computer unless you have an old one.

[swisscheesepotatochi]

dude...the only reason why thats the case is because they advertise like shit

[Ormaaj]

Most of what you see there is the result of compositing window managers which leverage hardware graphics acceleration, and thus there is often only a negligible performance footprint for most of those flashy effects.

I do agree however that bloat can be counterproductive. After using linux for a while i pretty much use a tiling window manager (xmonad) and a command line interface for most tasks.

[aquaphobicFish]

lol yeah beryl/compiz is a waiste of time just slows things down

[ChibaCityBlues]

I don't get it. Looks bloated, ugly and slow to me.

Don't get me wrong. I'm using Linux for 12 years now. (almost exclusively.) And the coolest part about it is that you can customise it the way you want it. It doesn't get in your way.